Iron Gaea: The Limitless Fortress - Part One: The First Floor

[Silk_and_Steel]

Iron Gaea
The Limitless Fortress


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Part One
The First Floor

It has been a week of rough travel through the mountains, and the tiny village of Refuge now lies somewhere far behind you. The people of Refuge had looked at your group as if you were mad when you set out on your long hike to Thorngrove Vale where the Limitless Fortress stands its silent vigil. Some even tried to talk you out of going, and it was clear as your party headed out of the village that no one expected you to ever return.

The trek through the mountains has been difficult, with no clear paths to follow. Blazing a trail through the untamed slopes has proven dangerous, as your party encountered numerous crumbling ledges, rocky drop offs, and copses of densely packed trees blocking your progress. It was almost as if the land itself did not want you to succeed in your journey. But always the looming monolith of the Iron Gaea marked the horizon ahead of you. No tree or mountain peak was tall enough to block it from your sight, and it served as a beacon, guiding your way.

Now, as a dawn as gray as dishwater breaks over the land, you stand in the bleak landscape of Thorngrove Vale. The ground here is dry and cracked, looking parched and barren in the weak light of morning. All around you bushes of thorny brambles and twisting, emaciated trees claw up stubbornly from the ground, reaching out tendrils and branches to snag and scratch at your clothes and skin as you push through them toward your destination. The smell of damp and mold hangs heavy in the air, and a light, dewy mist clings to the ground around your ankles like some creeping leviathan from a forgotten age.

The base of the Limitless Fortress dominates the floor of the valley, spanning a distance out to either side nearly beyond the limits of your vision. It is a massive, intimidating structure, with its dimensions easily dwarfing the grandest constructions of the current age. Thick, twisting brown vines crawl up its smooth iron walls, obscuring the foundation in a mass of thorns, and patches of dull rust can be seen marking its surface.

As you reach the base of the Iron Gaea, you find the hundred year old remains of a dozen camp fires scattered around. Remnants of the last expedition to this bleak place. It takes an hour of careful exploration along the wall before you are able to locate the entrance. A large metal door, like the gate of some grand palace, is set into an ornate frame and serves as the only feature on the tower's smooth wall. The door frame displays images of men and women, adventurers by their appearance, begin impaled on spears, hung by their necks, or devoured by amorphous, featureless creatures.

The door itself is blank, with only a large pull ring at its center made of solid gold. A closer inspection of the ring shows where countless explorers have chipped and shaved off layers of the thick gold, making the ring appear as if it has been gnawed upon by some large beast. Vines have grown over the door, crossing its surface with skeletal hands of bark and thorns as if trying to hold the portal shut against intruders.

[Lucid Phoenix]

Arriving at the inn of Refuge, Sarah found that she wasn't the only one stupid enough, or was it crazy enough? Brave enough? to want to go to Iron Gaea. Once she had found them she set on recording their likeness in her book. During their first and only night together at an inn, she reserved two pages each, and drew a portrait of them on the top of the first page, under their name once she learned it. More to be filled in later. Quiet during the goings on even when they set out on trail, she looked lost in thought for the most part, and almost instinctively let her feet lead her forward.

Once the mountains cleared, and they could really gaze upon the base of the Limitless Fortress, she got excited and let her thoughts translate almost directly into words It's really happening isn't it? Coming out as a jumble nobody could hope to make sense of as she took in all the sights. As time passed and they got closer, Sarah had to admit she was intimidated, Scared even? Naah by it's magnificence, and once her party'd found the door, she broke. "Ah fiiinally. Let's clear those vines off it, and get going. Careful though, else we end up like the frame."

Disguising her anxious, but excited, anticipation by an attempt at humor, she fished her book and writing implements out of her backpack again, and turned to a fresh page, marking it page '1'. This is just the sketchbook, I'll fix the numbering for the final draft. Analyzing the plants, having literally counted the campfires, she recorded every little detail of the entrance and surroundings, eyeballing the size of the door, the handle, jotting it down. This is still just notes, lest I forget the details, I'll make it a story later.

Clearly, she's letting the stronger party members do the dirty work of actually clearing the vines, after making poking the door with her spear to test for traps (unless someone checks for traps) I'd also think of rolling a couple knowledge skills (nature to identify the plants, maybe religion or history to see if the scene on the frame is a historic/religious thing, mostly just test all of them on anything; analyzing the scene)

Assume that's what she does constantly though, that's just what she does, that's her thing: roll all applicable knowledge whenever possible, and write it down in her book asap (+13 Religion, +9 History, +5 all others). On the whole though, most of what she finds out isn't relevant for us as players. I'm assuming the opening post in the OOC is mostly common knowledge to the world, so I'm going for a Lore check about Iron Gaea, just to get the dice rolling and see what happens.

[roll0] <-- That's apparently what happens if you preview a pos with a roll in it, hmm...

[Hamste]

It was a lucky break Pyrom had managed to get in a group on such short notice. He shuddered to think what would have happened if he had to go in by himself. When he had seen that Sarah was drawing him, he immediately cast a disguise spell changing his eye and hair color as well as giving himself a comically large nose as well a big bushy beard and mustache combo. Of course she had already seen his real face but he hoped she wouldn't remember his features and try to draw them anyways or draw those features. He would probably do something to the picture if she made a correct one but that would be for a later time.


Pyrom couldn't help but break into a grin of relief as they reached the peak. Part of it was the relief from finishing the climb but mostly it was finally reaching a place where he wouldn't be followed. Then he noticed the symbols.
Huh, did someone add the pictures after or was this designed specifically to kill people? What a strange thing. Pyrom comments looking at the pictures. He tried not to let the disturbing imagery get to his good mood and he tried hard to keep his smile. He considered what the symbols could mean to the creators. Were the images a warning or a threat? He noted the spears, noose and amorphous thing. Maybe it was a list of the first three traps or a code of some sort. He considered the other oddities around the place to check to see if anything was missing or strange. There were images of course but the campfires were not cleaned up which suggested no outdoor maintenance. It also suggested that someone camped up here. Either the previous explorers could exit or they stayed the night. He didn't immediately see bodies so that suggested the door itself was not a trap, it was a type of trap that could clean itself or someone cleaned the corpses but not the fires. The ring had some of the gold stolen but not all of it. Possibly from impatience. A possibility though was that the trap was the vines which killed people who tarried too long trying to steal gold. The plants could then eat the corpse leaving nothing left. A pit trap could also work causing the victim's body to disappear down a hole but how would it reset?
I'm just going to check the campfires. Who knows maybe there is some useful information there. I wouldn't be any help with the vines anyways...though I would suggest being careful with them. They may be much more aggressive than you would expect. Or maybe they are just normal vines. Who knows. Pyrom says heading over towards the old campfires with his disk floating with him.


Searching around and in the campfires

[roll0]

[rogue_alchemist]

Hammond is busy trying to ply his craft in Refuge to earn some money to travel to the Iron Gaea, when he hears of a group gathering at the inn. He makes arrangements with his guild to sell his meager shop for the last few supplies he needs and rushes over to the inn. When he arrives and finds the other, he introduces himself and tries to measure how strong he thinks the group is. He is surprised to see so few real fighters present, and especially so many clerics, but can't begrudge those who are brave enough to even attempt such a suicidal feat. He pays little mind to the strange girl with her nose buried in a book, even though she keeps glancing up at him periodically after they met.

Eager to prove his mettle, Hammond is up at first light and, with his superior strength and dexterity, is leading the group most of the way to the tower. As they face the few obstacles on their way to the tower, Hammond easily applies brawn over brains and takes whatever is the most obvious path, even if it costs him extra energy. He then offers to help the others over as well, unless they find their own way to make it around with their meager strength. Hammond doesn't talk much, but he clearly isn't lost in thought, he is just watching their surroundings and has little to say.

As they finally behold the base of the giant tower, Hammond lets out a whistle. He eagerly runs up to the base, but is dumbfounded on how to get in. He helps search for the door, but can't contribute much and most just bumbles around making what appears to be a half-hearted attempt at searching. When someone finally finds the door, it takes him a few seconds to even see it, though it is clearly pointed out to him. He finally sees the frame of the door and is confused about there being no handle, until he realizes there is a pull rope. As Sarah gives her input on what needs to be done, pulls out his dagger and approaches the vines to start cutting down what he can. He heeds Pyrom's advice and approaches carefully saying, "This should be no problem, I'll have this cleared in no time.", overestimating his own abilities.

[Blinkbear]

Aves has proven a lot of patience during the trip, never complaining but rather trying to get to know the others. But now that they have finally found the Fortress and apparently also an entrance, he seems excited. After carefully scanning the door, he announces: "I shall see if there is some magic aura lingering over the entrance." Subsequently, he starts the simple gestures and formulas of one of the most universal orizons/can trips in the universe, staring entranced at the door.

casts detect magic

[Silk_and_Steel]

The campfires surrounding the entrance to the tower are long cold an abandoned, marked only by a few scattered stone rings and the sparse remains of charred wood. A careful inspection around them turns up a few rusted out pots, long past repair, and the bones of a few small animals that likely found their fate as dinner for the previous expedition. There is no way of telling how often that group returned to this camp, if they did at all.

Sarah can learn nothing new about the Iron Gaea that she did not already know. The mural surrounding the door seems to be nothing more than the dark fantasy of the artist that created it. It may be some form of warning, but she has no way of knowing for sure. she knows that there are very few written records of The Limitless Fortress beyond a few notes from explorers who ventured to its gate but never stepped inside. The scribbled ramblings of those lucky few that did enter the tower and return are mostly nonsensical and speak only of traps, puzzles, monsters and vast vaults of treasure within, giving no clues or details of what to expect beyond that.

Besides the limited conversation between the adventurers the grove is silent and still in the early morning hours. The entrance to the great tower looms before the group, standing it's eternal, silent vigil, awaiting those bold enough to seek entrance into the Iron Gaea. As Hammond takes his dagger to the vines, he finds them tough and woody, like the branches of young trees that grip the metal with smaller tendrils of vine. It takes nearly half an hour to clear the vines away by himself with just his dagger, and when he finishes the door stands clear and smooth, bereft of any features save the ornate frame and the chipped and battered golden pull ring.

As Aves casts his spell his senses are bombarded by the presence of more magic than he has ever sensed in one area. the tower itself blazes like a brilliant beacon with every school of magic he knows and a few he can not recognize. the strength and number of the auras coming from the tower are enough to strain his eyes and cause his head to ache. The door seems to be woven with strong enchantment and transmutation magic.

[Hamste]

Strange thought for sure they would put a trap on the door. Everyone who wished to enter would have to through the door so it would be a prime spot to kill people. What else is there that wouldn't leave bodies after death? Some sort of magic trap? Resetting pit? Pyrom says moving forward to search the door. He had gotten bored of the camp fires ages ago but there was no way he was getting closer to the vines until they were cut down.


Taking 10 for 22 searching the squares immediately in front of the door

Taking 10 for 22 on the door. If nothing comes up searching the door again but actually rolling [roll0]

[Morcleon]

Mareike Adler

Refuge was indeed a refuge from both hunger and fatigue as Mareike arrived late into evening from a full day spent on the road. She spent most of the night getting to know each of her new team members and performing last minute maintenance on her gear. Tomorrow, she would (hopefully) be able to start accomplishing on her road to being someone. It was a long night for her.

In the morning, she accompanied the group as the made the rough trek to the tower, sword swinging from her hip. How many others would have made the same journey, she thought. How many others never made it back? All, if the stories were true. After all, no one knew what Iron Gaea even was. As the mist faded away, the massive vine-encrusted spire took her breath away. "Wow..."

She leaned in, staring up at the strange artwork. "It might just be referring to the fact that all who enter will die, rather than directly killing them at the door. Otherwise, there'd be a lot more stories about people dying right before entering."

[Hamste]

If you ran away after seeing your friend die with out even entering the fortress would you brag about it? I don't know about you, but I would tell a story of fearsome bears on the way there or scary skeletons inside rather than tell them my friend died to a trap on the front door.

I guess it depends on the design philosophy of the creator. If the idea to guard something it makes sense that the door is a trap unless the idea is to give a false sense of security or they plan to use this entrance a lot. On the other hand if the idea was to kill as many people as possible, then I wouldn't trap the front door so more rumors would spread unless I planned to just spread only false rumors.
Pyrom says.

[rogue_alchemist]

Hammond feels a sense of true accomplishment after spending so much time removing the vines. He steps back and takes a moment to appreciate his handiwork. It is only slightly miffed that no one helped him, but looking around at the group, there were so few cut out for the hard labor.

As the others start debating about the front door, Hammond is sorely tempted to just pull the handle and open the door. It seems so obvious to him that it is some kind of mechanism, but he knows that doing the obvious thing has gotten him in trouble in the past, and so he waits for the smarter ones in the group to decide what they want to do. As he grows bored of waiting, he suggests "Debate is all well and good, but sometimes it comes down to just doing the thing. Are we going to open the door or not?

[Blinkbear]

Aves had slightly stumbled back upon being confronted with the elaborate magic emitted by the tower and the door itself.

"So... Much... Magic... The whole tower is glowing. There are strong enchantments and transmutations on the door. I don't know if it's a trap or just means of keeping the door intact... anyone able to detect traps on there?"

[Hamste]

Working on it. I don't know what the trigger is so I'm checking the immediate surroundings before hand. Can one of you hold onto my crossbow and get ready to stop me if I start running to the edge? We don't know what the enchantment does and I would rather not shoot myself in the head or leap to my death if the creator was trying to stop us through violent means. Pyrom says continuing to search. He would hand off his crossbow to who ever would accept it or put it on the ground well out of reach.

The two spells were interesting. Enchantment and transmutation were not that common together for traps. There was also the consideration that there might be auras concealed by the strength of the others. The transmutation could help with the door opening though that seemed like it wouldn't need to nearly be that strong. Maybe to reinforce the door? Perhaps the transmutation was related to the plants or the lack of bodies? Enchantment was almost certainly a trap, maybe to get them to commit suicide or lie about what they found.

[Lucid Phoenix]

If Sarah hadn't had a crossbow handed to her, she'd have just went to open the door herself. Instead she opted to see what happened when Pyrom did it. "Thank you Hammond, we appreciate it." Looking around, she corrected herself almost immediately, not entirely sure if she wasn't alone on this "at least, I appreciate it." As she fumbled with the crossbow, disarming it if necessary, she muttered something under her breath, "Only one way to find out what it is..." While not specifically meant for anyone, she didn't much care if her party heard it, it's not like I'm insulting them", it's a statement of fact.

A short post, but in the interest of moving forward: I'm assuming Pyrom opens the door, if not, Sarah stalks past and opens the door instead (or attempts to), she has no patience.

[Silk_and_Steel]

Despite his best efforts, Pyrom is unable to find any traps on or around the heavy metal door. However, in his search his hands touch the pull ring. As warm flesh touches the golden ring there is a sound like gravel being ground beneath a heavy boot, and as the group watches, words begin to form in the featureless metal surface of the door. As each letter forms, a tiny shower of metal dust falls to the ground and mixes with the dry dirt, as if the word were being chiseled out as they watch. Slowly the words magically appear until they can be read clearly:

Axes and swords,
Will not help you through.
Yet this and a little pull will do.
Some in the road would
have fought and soon died,
Were it not close at hand,
to let them inside.

[Blinkbear]

Aves still appears very excited. "Maybe one has to wear gloves while pulling the ting?"

[Hamste]

No traps found at least. Be careful, so far we have seen transmutation but none of the enchantment. Any idea on the last bit? What would be close at hand to let them inside? Maybe related to the gold on the ring? People might have just been taking it but it might be part of the puzzle. Feel free to try the glove if you have one.

Pyrom says giving the ring a slight pull. If it seems like the transmutation is about to activate, he is going to stop and let Aves try his glove thing. He is going to try his best to make it look like the glove thing worked, though he would have to actually think of a solution to make it look like the glove thing worked though. He had no idea how a glove related to the puzzle beyond maybe not activating the transmutation but it seemed like it could be funny to make it seem like it worked as a non-sequitur.

The let them inside could be referring to the door with the last bit about fighting being a subtle threat if it took too long. Would explain the enchantment but that would make the actual riddle tiny in comparison.

[rogue_alchemist]

Hammond watches as Pyrom searches the door and the pull ring for traps. He mutters "Your welcome" to Sarah, when she thanks him, feeling sheepish that she is the only one to say anything. He is very surprised when Pyrom touches the ring and suddenly writing appears on the door. He says "Great, a riddle. And axes and swords won't help. I don't see a way that a bow would help either, so I'll leave this to you guys. Just don't leave me out here, call me when you figure it out." After he says that, he wanders off a little to try to setup a shooting dummy and practice his archery. If the others thought they needed his strength, they would call him, but as he didn't enjoy riddles, he would leave it to them to solve. Practicing his archery helped him relax, and honed his skill to boot.

EDIT:Here is a perception check, as Hammond is one of the only ones not facing the door right now, and might notice something the others don't (like enemies approaching from behind)Spot:1d20Listen:1d20+1

[Blinkbear]

Aves seems a bit embarrassed for having blurted out the first answer that had come to his mind which had done at least a bit of sense. "Well, I just thought that the riddle means that we basically have to pull the ring with something... And then I thought about things that are important to survive on the road but not weapons. And especially things that let me into themselves, and ... yeah ... somehow glove seamed to fit." He shrugs. "Or I took the at hand a bit too literally. But yeah, I'll just try then, I guess. If there are no objections?"

He waits for a moment before trying his solution for the riddle. While waiting, it felt more and more stupid to actually do it, because now that he spent more time thinking about it, and more importantly, having presented his chain of thought, it felt not like the first thing that sprung to mind. On the other hand, it was. For him.

If there are no objections in the next 30 seconds or so, he tries to pull the ring with a gloved hand.

[Lucid Phoenix]

'This' and 'it' oculd refer to the door itself, in which case it wants to let us in, and only a simple pull on the ring would do. Unlikely, conclusion forthcoming. As Sarah silently organised her thoughts in a series of conjectures and unlikely possibilities, all the while twirling the end of a strand of hair in one of her hands, visibly distand. In the end, she could reach a few tentative conclusions, switching strands or hands at each such juncture. First; the actual operation to open the door is subtle, 'a little pull', second, to fight, for whatever reason would likely mean death, 'Some ... fought and soon died' no margin of error, but 'soon' could mean poison, and lastly, once one knew the answer i would seem obvious, 'close at hand, to let [us] inside'.

After sharing these conclusions with the group, she focused her attention on trying to find subtle and in hindsight obvious manipulatios that could be construed as pulling, maybe with a tool on their person; the literal version of 'close at hand'. As she did this, the twirling started up again, and conjectures were made, discarded or explored, rediscovered or expanded, all with the distant gaze returning, occasionally switching her weight from one foot to the other.

[Morcleon]

"Mm... maybe we're just overthinking the riddle. 'This' could refer to the door ring, which is usually pulled to open a door. The 'axes and swords' line probably refers to people trying to break their way in by force, rather than doing things in the way the creators intended." Mareike leans in a bit and hums softly. Riddles weren't her strong suit, and she had left that sort of stuff to others during her mercenary days. This one seemed rather simple though, so she felt at least slightly comfortable in voicing her opinion. "The other lines might be talking about people either trying to break the door down and suffering from whatever defenses it has, or because they were being chased or attacked hereabouts and this was a quick escape."

She sighs and brushes her hair back from her face, glancing to Aves. "If you want to, go ahead. I don't see any other way inside."

[Silk_and_Steel]

When Aves reaches out and touches the golden ring, nothing happens immediately. The ancient ring feels cold and heavy in his hand, it's edges rough from where countless prior explorers have shaved off bits of the gold. He can easily wrap his hand around it, but he gets the sense that when it was new it would have been too thick to get his fingers around it. He lifts the ring and gives it a tug, trying to open the large metal door. when he does there is a brilliant flash of white light, so bright it causes everyone to flinch and shield their eyes. It lasts only a moment then fades, leaving the grove still and silent once again. However, when Aves opens his eyes, he finds that he can no longer see. the world has gone dark.

Aves has been blinded

[Blinkbear]

When Aves puts his hand around the ring he wonders for a moment, how previous adventurers have done it. Maybe they just bound a rope around it... He anyway tried to give it a decent pull. When the light unleashed, he instinctively closed his eyes, too late, causing a cry of pain leaving his lips, but still tried to hold on, to no success. Disappointed and in pain he had stumbled backwards, opening his eyes again.

Then, closing them again, opening them again. No sound left his lips in his shock. He brushed over them with his hands, turns his head, his usually controlled movements turning into convulsions of shock. Lowly: "No...". Again, he turns to the others. Then, another whimpering "No" as still everything is dark and he can't even see his own hand, let alone his new friends. "My... My eyes... I can't see... I'm... blind... Can't see, everything's dark. Everything's gone." The puzzling had quickly left his voice and turned into despair towards the end.

[Hamste]

Calm down and turn towards my voice. We have to get a good look at your eyes so we can figure out if the transmutation, the enchantment or something else did it. Also to ask, you don't feel like trying things you wouldn't usually do, do you? I have to ask in case the enchantment is getting you say that to trick us to get closer. Pyrom says looking at Aves. He was kind of out of his depth here but he hoped one of the others knew how to deal with it.


Assuming they answer no to the enchantment question he continues.
Ok, we are just going to move you a bit to see which school it is. We have to move you so the door's magic doesn't interfere. Is anyone here trained in identifying spells? I can cast detect magic but I never learned how to identify active spells so the best I can do is is tell if the spell is still active or not.
Pyrom says trying to gently guide Aves away from the door. He had apparently gotten lucky the door hadn't reacted like that when he had tried it.

[Blinkbear]

Aves slightly winces upon hearing Pyrom's voice but not seeing him. Slowly, he turns towards the voice and tries to follow it, his hands in a defensive and tentative posture in front of his chest and face.
"What? No, no, I don't feel like killing you all or so. I... I don't think it affected my mind." Slowly, his voice begins to get composure again. The questions about the source and possible secondary effects slightly distracted his thoughts from the fact that he could possibly lost his eyesight forever. "If... If there is at least a visible aura on me, that could mean that it... that it's only temporary, or a curse that could be broken."

[Lucid Phoenix]

Almost too lost in thought to shield her own eyes, it took Sarah a while before she realised one of her own party hadn't been so lucky. When it was mentioned that it could be an ongoing spell or effect, or a curse, she immediately jiggled her head a bit to break the trance and walked up to Aves, gently touching him on the arm, guiding him away from the door. "There there, you'll be okay. It's not all gone, we're all still here." Reassuring words and a gentle tone would hopefully ease him a bit, making him feel more relaxed. As long as he doesn't find out I'm talking to myself as well, this is something else.

After a short while, Sarah had positioned herself between Aves and the door, so she could cast in peace, without being overwhelmed by the door's magic auras. "I'm going to let go of you now, so I can see what it is precisely that is the matter with you. Don't fret, we're all still here." As she finished, she let go and started casting, trying to tackle a problem, gaining knowledge as she went. Since I'm casting anyway, I might as well check out the door afterwards. With this thought, an almost mischievous grin stole her face. Indeed, as she finished she turned to the door once more, slowly and cautiously, and put her hand on Aves' arm when she did, both to steady herself and to comfort him.

So I don't know how many Spellcraft checks are needed for all this, but my best guess is three (one for Aves, and two for the door), so here goes:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
If this is not enough, here's a few more:
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
As you may have guessed, I'm from the Department of Redundancy Department. :smalltongue:

[rogue_alchemist]

Hammond was lining up a shot when the brilliant white light flashed. He was surprised and his shot went wide by a remarkable margin. As the shot skittered off the ground, before coming to rest in front of a rock, Hammond turned to see what was going on. He had heard them debating about what to do, but hadn't been really paying attention to the group. He assumed they had decided to move forward, but obviously they hadn't figured out the riddle. As he was looking over the group, he noticed Aves seeming really disoriented and Pyrom seems to be lecturing him again. He sees Sarah approach and guide him away from the ring, she was always so kind. As he returned to the group, he heard casting a spell so Hammond tried to quietly ask Pyrom what happened, "What happened to him, and what was that blinding light? Anything I can do to help?

[Hamste]

That blinding light blinded him, it activated when he pulled on the ring. We are just doing some tests now to see the nature of the blindness. Are you trained in medicine? If not and it is permanent the most you can do is chip in for something to cure it. I have two thirds of the money for a cure blindness scroll if there is one with out a marked up price in the nearest city. Presumably, it would be covered by the gold we get from loot as this could have happened to any of us. Wouldn't look forward to trying to get a blind man through the woods though. Pyrom whispers to Hammond.

While Pyrom waits for the results to come in he digs slightly into the ground just to see if he can find any metal dust from the previous times the door activated. If he couldn't even find the trap on the door there was no way he was going to be able to disarm it so it looked like the bright light was going to activate multiple times. On the bright side only one person needed to be blinded by the light for them to figure it out.

Search check to try to find older metal dust from the doors previous activation.

[roll0]

[Morcleon]

Mareike flinches back at the flash of light, having been digging around in her backpack. She quickly flips it back onto her back and hurries over to Aves. A trap this early on should probably have been anticipated, considering the horror stories about this place, but she never thought it would be this bad so soon. She shrugs and scratches her head helplessly. "I have some gold left on me, but it probably won't be enough to cover it. We could try to wait this out. Harmful magic isn't usually permanent, right?"

[Blinkbear]

Aves shrugs, shoulders hanging.

"It really... depends... What kind of magic is it?" he asks now that he has heard people casting spells. "And... if it is a curse to be broken, I will just have to find a way to earn that money. If my eyes burned out or if it was some even worse effect, then..." He gulps, shocked by his own words, obviously holding back tears, then gulping again, slightly shaking his head and regaining control. "Even if it does not wear off in a few hours, the most I can ask from you guys is to lead me back into the next settlement. I will find my way from there." He attempts a smile.

[Hamste]

Just stop worrying about it, it probably isn't that bad. As Mareike said earlier, if the door is trapped we would have heard a lot more stories of permanently blind people from the fortress. I mean, people would still lie about what caused the blindness but I don't remember that many blind people talking about the fortress. So here is what we are going to do, everyone except Aves will back off and close their eyes. Then we shout out stuff for Aves to try and we keep doing that until the door opens. It is not like Aves will get any more blind so this should allow us to keep trying until it opens. Once the door's riddle is solved we rest here for a day to see if Aves gets their sight back. If they don't, we try one more time to make sure the trick to open the door is repeatable and head to town. Their we will try to find a scroll to cure blindness and either me or Sarah to cast it to cure Aves. If you really feel you must pay for it, just pay us back out of your cut of the treasure. Though given the circumstance, it would be better if the cost was shared over everyone. Anyways, if that is ok, Aves wait till we give a yell and try to open the door with out the glove this time.
Pyrom says in a much more confident voice than he felt. He hoped his false confidence would rub off on the others. After all false hope was better than no hope.

If there is no other trap on the door can Aves just keep trying until we succeed?

[Blinkbear]

Aves nods slowly, turning to the door, asking if he's now facing it, letting the others guide him a bit. He had always hated riddles, whereas others in his traveling groups enjoyed them for making the time fly. He had always had the feeling that their actual purpose was to make others feel stupid. But maybe it was also because he was never too good at solving them. Maybe I should've spent more attention to their games... The shock and the fear slowly turned to anger when he angrily "eyed" the door, merely suppressing the urge to kick it.

"Stupid door. Why can't you just have a lock and a key under the doormat like a good ole normal door has? What's with the stupid riddle?"

[rogue_alchemist]

Since the group seemed at a loss for solving the riddle, Hammond figured he might as well give it a try as well. He thought as hard as he could on what the answer might be. He didn't like this kind of work, but he felt better that he wasn't the only one struggling with the puzzle. It didn't bode well with him that they were struggling this much just to get into the tower. Hopefully they fared better once they got inside.
[roll0]

[Hamste]

Ooh, also try to use the ring like a knocker before giving it a slight pull. Makes a bit of sense and someone with bad intentions would probably have difficulty thinking of it, if it is a defense against robbers. Pyrom suggests thinking about the ring. The ring could just be to submit answers but most rings on doors were used to knock on said doors. Guests would think to knock after all but robbers never knocked so it would be an annoying puzzle for them but harmless for actual guests.

[Lucid Phoenix]

Part of her wanted to record what had happened before they continued to try new things, but a more dominant part of her just wanted to get past the damnable door. "You go ahead Aves, just a few more steps, now reach forward, there you go." Guiding Aves back toward the door, Sarah intended not to miss what did work either. Resigning herself to watch, with a hand absently going back to twirling her hair, she resolved that patience, while she had little of it, was something valuable nonetheless. If something came to her in a fit of genius though, she would blurt it out immediately, probably tripping over her words in her eagerness to have it tried. "Oh, and don't you worry Aves, the blindness is at most a few hours, it'll wear of."

So I decided to just to go ahead and post, and have Sarah mention the temporary nature of the blindness as something she almost forgot to mention. :smallwink:

[Silk_and_Steel]

The groups conversation is cut off as Aves speaks the word "Key". There is a grinding sound as the riddle vanishes from the surface of the metal door, and the ground rumbles beneath the feet of the adventurers as the door begins to rise. Slowly, like a gastropod crawling across the ground, the door begins to slide up. A few remaining strands of vines tear and rip as the door pulls up, revealing a dark passageway beyond, leading into the interior of the Limitless Fortress. The air in the passage is cool, and the only light comes from the morning sun spilling in through the door. The passage appears featureless and seems to be made of the same smooth iron as the exterior of the Fortress. The light from outside only extends about fifteen feet down the passage, before becoming too dark to see further. Low-light and darkvision reveal a little more of the passage, but it just seems to continue on into deeper darkness.

[Blinkbear]

Upon hearing that something is happening, Aves carefully pulls up his arms in front of his face. "What is happening? Is it opening? Is something coming out of it?" Is it going to eat me? He sounds kind of nervous and takes a few steps back, his whole body in a defensive position. After all, he was still as blind as a bat, and in contrast to a bat, he didn't have the senses to survive in darkness. "If... If it has opened we should maybe go inside soon, but I'd rather would be able to... well... see." He sounds a bit as if he fears to slow down the others.

[rogue_alchemist]

Hammond is watching as Aves suddenly calls out "keys" and the door starts open. Hammond almost feels embarrassed that he didn't think of something like that, but he was never very good at puzzles and didn't claim to be. As the door starts opening, Hammond says "Way to go Aves! You got the door open!" Then in response to Aves' uncertainty, Hammond suddenly remembers that he can't see anything. Hammond almost wants to play a practical joke on Aves, but decides that the poor man has already suffered enough indignity for the day. Instead Hammond reassures Aves "Aves, the door is open, and it just looks dark in there. Nothing is coming out. I'll go in first and give a signal for the others to follow. Then someone can lead you in."

Hammond then proceeds to start scoping the entrance out. He cautiously puts one foot in front of another, his head snapping back and forth to look for any danger that may be lurking in the murky darkness.

spot:[roll0]
listen:[roll1]

EDIT: Hammond will only take a step in to look around, before hearing Hamste's character berate him. I'll let everyone else post before posting again.

[Hamste]

Good work. Anyways, I wouldn't suggest going in there until Aves' sight is back. The door might close behind us and refuse to open until something is done. We now know or are at least pretty sure how the door opens so there is no reason to rush in. It is not like we have a time limit. I particularly don't suggest walking in by yourself consider you focuse on archery and presumably are not trained in finding traps. If there is a trap or you spot something what would you do? Pyrom says guiding Aves away from the door to sit down an wait.

I personally suggest those of us good at hunting go out to get some more food while the rest of us stay with Aves until they can see again.

[Blinkbear]

Aves lets Pyrom guide him and sits down accordingly. He has his head hung low and looks really embarrassed. He fumbles around with one of his belt pouches, retrieving a small, simple pendant from it, dangling from a similarly simple necklace. The pendant is in the form of a disc and shows very simple engravings to a careful observer. But more importantly, it emanates light as that of a torch. He holds the symbol with both hands and falls in silent prayer, only moving his lips.

He's not doing something "technical", he's just hoping it's over soon. This isn't even his actual holy symbol; more a memory and an continuous flame spell on it.

[Lucid Phoenix]

When the door opened, Sarah almost giggled with excitement, and shortly after she heard Pyrom say what she feared as well; it was probably best to wait until Aves had his sight back. Hard as it may be to wait, the opportunity it presented to write the new findings in her book was golden, and she didn't let it go. "So right now we're just waiting on the curse of your blindness to run its course. But don't worry, you're not holding us back. If anything, this means that we want you at full capability before we brave the perils inside." While writing, she occasionally talked with Aves, just to keep the darkness interesting, so he wouldn't lose himself in it. She touched his arm a few times along with talking, stimulating other senses than the one taken from him. "It's very possible we'll see very little of the inside before we want to rest for the night, at the reate we're going now, anyway." In the end, talking with nobody in particular, Sarah just kept breaking the silence if it fell, while finishing up her recording well before the blindness had fully run its course.

[Silk_and_Steel]

It takes a couple of hours for Aves's sight to fully return. When it does it is blurry at first, slowly focusing as he blinks away the magic that had afflicted him. Once he has returned to normal the group gather themselves and moves as one into the first corridor of the Limitless Fortress.

As the last of the group passes through the door there is a rumble and the door slides back into place, sealing the entrance and leaving the group standing in complete darkness. A lit torch or other source of light spreads dim illumination in the narrow corridor. It extends for nearly one hundred feet before suddenly stopping at a wall. An entrance half the height of the current corridor opens into a crawl space that seems to lead even further into the Iron Gaea. The narrow crawl space is just large enough for a person to move along on all fours with no room on either side to stretch out their arms, and no room above to rise from their knees. The space smells of metal and rust, and the air feels humid and heavy. The crawl space extends for another forty feet with nothing of interest, however, another twenty feet down the space the group can see a dim red light that appears to be getting brighter and dimmer in a steady pulse.

At the end of the crawl space the group enters a hexagonal room roughly thirty feet across in all directions. The walls, floor and ceiling of the room are covered by mirrors, including the wall the crawl space is set into. At the center of the room is a raised pedestal holding a small metal basin of water which is maybe a foot across and filled with clear water. From the center of the ceiling hangs a silver brazier on a long chain. The brazier is flickering with brilliant red flames, and moves lazily around the basin in a constant circle. Arranged around the edges of the basin in small indentations are three glass orbs. One red, one blue and one yellow. There is a fourth indentation in the basin beneath the water. There does not seem to be any other exit from the room.

[Hamste]

So what we have here is blue orb for water, red orb for flames, yellow what? Probably air? White, yellow or clear is how I would represent air and if they do each represent an element it makes sense. It would be represented by the brazier being suspended and possibly pushed by air. Someone can check for a breeze to confirm. The just leaves earth unaccounted for, most likely a green orb but possibly brown. It might appear if we just put something representing earth in the pot though. We could also try to remove an orb, is anyone resistant to cold, fire or electricity? If the orb doesn't want to move and they do represent elements they will strike out with those. Pyrom suggests as he summons a new disk to put his stuff on again. The last one had been too small to fit in the crawl space so he had to leave it behind. He started looking at the mirrors curiously to see what the were for.


[roll0] searching the mirrors to see if there is any notable differences in reflections or things hidden behind them
[roll1] knowledge: arcana to see if this is a ritual of some sort or otherwise tied with the arcane

[rogue_alchemist]

While waiting, Hammond mostly just did calisthenics, wanting to be ready for whatever was inside. He didn't want his muscles to get cold or cramped if they had to fight soon. Suddenly Sarah and Aves seem to get excited and Hammond hears that Aves got his sight back. Hammond only offers "Finally, now we can get going again. Who wants to lead the way in? I am not very good at searching for traps and such and with my bow, I can still be helpful from further back in the marching order." He doesn't seem to begrudge Aves at all, but is genuinely excited to get going into the fortress. As the marching order is set, Hammond puts himself somewhere in the middle of the group so he can cover both the rear and the front if needed. However, the hallway is not very long, before they are forced to crawl through the small crawlspace.

Hammond comments "Well this is no dignified way to start the tower. But as there are no alternatives, I guess it is down on hands and knees we go. Maybe I or Mareike should lead, because we are most likely to survive an attack. The other should take rear, in case something comes from behind us." Pyrom then indicates that the floating disk won't make it through, so Hammond volunteers to haul any extra gear that the others can't handle. Hammond doesn't care whether he takes the lead or the rear, but falls into line and crawls through the small space. He is worried about the red light he sees flickering up ahead, and is mystified when the group emerges out from the crawlspace.

Hammond looks around the room in wonder, taking in the mirror and the strange bowl of water and floating brazier. He doesn't know what to make of any of it, or if any of it is supposed to be a clue, but then Pyrom speaks up. Even though his musings don't make much sense to Hammond, he trusts that the Elf knows what he is talking about. He answers "I am not particularly resistant to any of that, but I know how to take a hit and keep on kicking. If one of our spell casters wants to bolster my resistance, I will volunteer to remove an orb." Hammond stops and thinks for a minute, before reaching back and swinging his backpack down. He redistributes any gear that the others asked him to carry and saysAs a matter of fact, I have a crowbar we could use, if you think it'll help." He looks proud that he thought of something and starts unstrapping the crowbar from his pack.

[Blinkbear]

When the door opened, Sarah almost giggled with excitement, and shortly after she heard Pyrom say what she feared as well; it was probably best to wait until Aves had his sight back. Hard as it may be to wait, the opportunity it presented to write the new findings in her book was golden, and she didn't let it go. "So right now we're just waiting on the curse of your blindness to run its course. But don't worry, you're not holding us back. If anything, this means that we want you at full capability before we brave the perils inside." While writing, she occasionally talked with Aves, just to keep the darkness interesting, so he wouldn't lose himself in it. She touched his arm a few times along with talking, stimulating other senses than the one taken from him. "It's very possible we'll see very little of the inside before we want to rest for the night, at the reate we're going now, anyway." In the end, talking with nobody in particular, Sarah just kept breaking the silence if it fell, while finishing up her recording well before the blindness had fully run its course.
Aves thankfully keeps up the conversation with Sarah, and also smiles every time she touches his arm, happy to not feel alone. When the curse is finally lifted, he seems very enthusiastic to get inside.



It takes a couple of hours for Aves's sight to fully return. When it does it is blurry at first, slowly focusing as he blinks away the magic that had afflicted him. Once he has returned to normal the group gather themselves and moves as one into the first corridor of the Limitless Fortress.

As the last of the group passes through the door there is a rumble and the door slides back into place, sealing the entrance and leaving the group standing in complete darkness. A lit torch or other source of light spreads dim illumination in the narrow corridor. It extends for nearly one hundred feet before suddenly stopping at a wall. An entrance half the height of the current corridor opens into a crawl space that seems to lead even further into the Iron Gaea. The narrow crawl space is just large enough for a person to move along on all fours with no room on either side to stretch out their arms, and no room above to rise from their knees. The space smells of metal and rust, and the air feels humid and heavy. The crawl space extends for another forty feet with nothing of interest, however, another twenty feet down the space the group can see a dim red light that appears to be getting brighter and dimmer in a steady pulse.

At the end of the crawl space the group enters a hexagonal room roughly thirty feet across in all directions. The walls, floor and ceiling of the room are covered by mirrors, including the wall the crawl space is set into. At the center of the room is a raised pedestal holding a small metal basin of water which is maybe a foot across and filled with clear water. From the center of the ceiling hangs a silver brazier on a long chain. The brazier is flickering with brilliant red flames, and moves lazily around the basin in a constant circle. Arranged around the edges of the basin in small indentations are three glass orbs. One red, one blue and one yellow. There is a fourth indentation in the basin beneath the water. There does not seem to be any other exit from the room.

Aves does not complain about the tied space. Once they are in the mirror room, he is genuinely impressed by such art, and inspects the room further, fascinated by the many, multiplying images that appear in the mirror. Finally, he looks into the basin to see whether there is another glass orb inside.


So what we have here is blue orb for water, red orb for flames, yellow what? Probably air? White, yellow or clear is how I would represent air and if they do each represent an element it makes sense. It would be represented by the brazier being suspended and possibly pushed by air. Someone can check for a breeze to confirm. The just leaves earth unaccounted for, most likely a green orb but possibly brown. It might appear if we just put something representing earth in the pot though. We could also try to remove an orb, is anyone resistant to cold, fire or electricity? If the orb doesn't want to move and they do represent elements they will strike out with those. Pyrom suggests as he summons a new disk to put his stuff on again. The last one had been too small to fit in the crawl space so he had to leave it behind. He started looking at the mirrors curiously to see what the were for.




Hammond looks around the room in wonder, taking in the mirror and the strange bowl of water and floating brazier. He doesn't know what to make of any of it, or if any of it is supposed to be a clue, but then Pyrom speaks up. Even though his musings don't make much sense to Hammond, he trusts that the Elf knows what he is talking about. He answers "I am not particularly resistant to any of that, but I know how to take a hit and keep on kicking. If one of our spell casters wants to bolster my resistance, I will volunteer to remove an orb." Hammond stops and thinks for a minute, before reaching back and swinging his backpack down. He redistributes any gear that the others asked him to carry and saysAs a matter of fact, I have a crowbar we could use, if you think it'll help." He looks proud that he thought of something and starts unstrapping the crowbar from his pack.

Aves considers the words of his comrades for a moment. "Maybe it's also that the red one comes into the fiery brazier, and the blue one into the water. Dunno about the yellow one, though. Although you are right. Could be lightning. In this room, a lightning bolt could really become fatal if it bounces off the walls..." Not that Aves knew too much about lightning bolts. "I'll have a quick look what's magic here, first." Then, he casts detect magic.